


Talk Nerdy To Me

by anythingbutplatonic



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Family Fluff, M/M, Seb has a crush, embarrassing dads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2020-01-01 03:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18328034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anythingbutplatonic/pseuds/anythingbutplatonic
Summary: “It’s nothing like that this time!” Seb protested, and when his dads both fixed him with a tell the truth or else look he knew far too well, he repeated, “It isn’t!” He shifted in his seat, picking at his nails - and avoiding both their gazes.“Well, then, if it’s not juvenile arson then what is it that’s got ya twitchin’ over there like a toddler who’s just had an accident in its nappy?”





	Talk Nerdy To Me

“Okay, dads, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

Seb flopped unceremoniously into a chair at the kitchen table, huffing out a breath in attempt to push his unruly hair from his eyes. Unfortunately for him, he’d inherited the messiness as well as the colour of his hair from Robert, and when it got too long it stuck up in all directions, making him look, as Aaron would often point out, like he’d slept in a hedge rather than an actual bed. 

Aaron, immediately suspicious, took a gulp of his tea and asked in one breath, “What ‘ave you done, how long have they excluded you for and who do I need to ask for when I phone the school to apologize on your behalf?”

Seb gave him a  _look. “Nothing!”_  

“Oh, like you and Isaac setting your desk on fire in Chemistry was  _nothin’?”_ Robert asked, raising an eyebrow from where he sat opposite him, going through some boring paperwork from the scrapyard or the haulage or whatever it was. “You got kicked out for three weeks for that,  _and_  we both got an earful from your teacher for letting you run riot in ‘er classroom.” He jerked his head in Aaron’s direction, who nodded pointedly. 

“Not to mention the fine we ‘ad to pay the school for the damage you caused,” he added. 

“It’s nothing like that this time!” Seb protested, and when his dads both fixed him with a  _tell the truth or else_  look he knew far too well, he repeated, “It isn’t!” He shifted in his seat, picking at his nails - and avoiding both their gazes.

“Well, then, if it’s not juvenile arson then what is it that’s got ya twitchin’ over there like a toddler who’s just had an accident in its nappy?” 

At which point they were interrupted by Tia who, having just blown up several zombies on the video game she was lost in, shouted over the back of the sofa, “Seb’s got a girlfriend!”

“I have not!” he burst back without thinking - but a dark pink flush had come over his cheeks, making his freckles stand out against the paleness of the rest of his skin. 

“Don’t listen to him, dads,  I saw him!” Tia replied, her grin far too satisfied, her tongue poking through the gap in her teeth that was currently being corrected by braces. “Seb and Anna sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G-”

“What are you, five?” he muttered, folding his arms and sinking further in his chair, so that they could only see his fringe and his bright red cheeks. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“But you like this girl - Anna, is it?” Robert prompted, and Seb flushed even darker. “It’s okay, you can tell us, y’know.”

“Is she pretty? Smart? What year is she in?” Aaron asked, firing off each question with more and more glee creeping into his voice. “Have you even talked to her, or do you just stare at her from a distance hoping she’ll make the first move?”

“What, like us, you mean?” Robert winked, making Aaron roll his eyes and give him a mock slap on the arm. 

“Give off, you just jumped on me, I didn’t get a choice, did I?” he replied. “And I’ve been stuck with ya ever since, unfortunately - ow!”

“Dads, c’mon!” Seb groaned. “I’m having a crisis here and you’re being all embarrassing.”

“Embarrasin’? Oh, we’re embarrassin’ you, are we?” Aaron asked. “Look, Rob, Seb’s got his first crush and we’re  _embarrassin’_  ‘im.” 

“It’s our parental duty, I think, isn’t it?” Robert said, grinning with a shrug of his shoulders. 

“Yeah, comes with the territory mate, sorry,” Aaron shrugged, raising his hands in a  _What can I do? I’m a parent, it’s my legal obligation to embarrass you_  gesture.

“Oh my God, will you just help me out or not?” Seb pleaded. “Do either of you know anything about Star Wars?”

Aaron scoffed, rolled his eyes again. “ _No.”_

But Robert replied, far too excitedly, “Yes!”

“ _Finally_ ,” Seb breathed out. “I want to know how to impress her - Anna - and she likes all the geeky stuff, Star Wars, Star Trek, all of that,” he added, in a shy voice, “but I don’t, and I really want to so I can talk to her about the stuff she likes.”

“Well, that’s kinda sweet, even if it’s really nerdy,” Aaron said, finishing his tea and putting the empty mug by the sink. “So I will leave you in your dad’s capable hands before your weird sci-fi stuff rubs off on me.”

“Hey, it’s not nerdy, Star Wars is a cinematic masterpiece!” Robert interjected. 

“Whatever you say,  _geek_ ,” Aaron said, but he was only teasing - Robert could tell by the glint in his eyes, the one that said  _You’re a weirdo but I love you_. “Prepare yourself, Seb. You might wanna find a different schoolboy crush by the time your dad’s speech is over. I’m gonna go shoot some zombies with Tia.”

——

“So’s the nerd headquarters closed for the night, then?” Aaron asked as Robert slipped under the covers much later, sidling up to Aaron to press his body against Aaron’s already drowsy-warm one. His toes were like icicles against his bare legs, and Aaron hissed through his teeth at the sensation. 

“Yeah,” Robert said. “We had a good chat, actually.”

“How’d you feel about him having a crush, then?” he asked, propping himself up on one elbow so he could look at Robert properly. 

His husband shrugged. “It was always going to happen, wasn’t it? He’s fifteen, he’s getting older,  he was bound to start liking someone eventually…” 

But Aaron knew Robert. And he knew the hesitance in his voice, the nervousness. The worry.

“Still a bit weird though, isn’t it? Our firstborn liking a girl for the first time an’ all that,” Aaron prompted. “He’s growin’ up, our Seb.”

“Tell me about it,” Robert sighed. “Feels like a year ago he was still in nappies and bumpin’ into table legs when he was learning to walk, not fourteen years ago.”

Aaron rolled onto his back, folding his hands on his chest. “He’s got us, though. He won’t have to figure stuff out by himself, all the…grown-up stuff.”

“If you’re insinuating that my fifteen-year-old son will shortly be asking me about where to buy the best brand of condoms, I’m kickin’ ya out of this bed,” Robert said with a shudder. “One thing at a time, yeah?”

“At least he has you to talk about all the nerd stuff, y’know, so he can bond with this Anna he likes,” Aaron appreciatively. “Even if it’s really embarrassin’ watchin’ ya.”

“Oh shut up, you love it,” Robert teased, nudging him with his elbow. He rolled over so that he was hovering above Aaron, his hands flat on the pillow above his head. He lowered his head to cover his mouth in a slow, sensuous kiss. “I’ll have you know that sometimes, being a complete nerd comes in handy.”

“Oh yeah?” Aaron murmured against his lips. “How?” 

“Well, for starters,” Robert said, his voice low and deep, “I can show you how I got top of the class in biology…”

**Author's Note:**

> originally written march 6th 2019


End file.
